Harnessing CRISPR-Cas technology to enhance rice resilience under abiotic and biotic stress.

CRISPR-enabled functional genomics for bolstering plant tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress; a comprehensive review

CRISPR-Cas systems for enhancing chilling tolerance in rice: recent advances and future prospects.

CRISPR-Cas9: an emerging and precise genome editing system for crops to combat food insecurity

Genome editing has emerged as a transformative tool to improve crop productivity, resilience, and nutritional quality, helping address global food insecurity. Among gene-editing platforms, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/ Cas systems (notably CRISPR-Cas9) offer simple, efficient, and scalable methods for targeted modifications, including knockouts, base edits, and precise “search-and-replace” prime edits. In plants, recent advances such as improved base editors, optimized prime-editing platforms, and DNA-free delivery methods have expanded the scope of edits achievable while reducing off-target effects and regulatory concerns. This review summarizes CRISPR principles, highlights technical breakthroughs and crop applications that mitigate biotic and abiotic stresses, and outlines practical challenges and future directions necessary for responsible deployment in agriculture.

Emerging applications of CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing in horticultural crop improvement

CRISPR/Cas-based genome editing has emerged as a powerful and precise tool for crop improvement, enabling targeted modification of genes associated with agriculturally important traits. In horticultural crops, CRISPR technologies have accelerated the improvement of disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, yield, nutritional quality, shelf life, flowering behavior, and ornamental characteristics. Among available genome-editing platforms, CRISPR/Cas9 is the most widely utilized because of its simplicity, efficiency, and versatility. The technology enables precise genome modification through targeted DNA cleavage followed by endogenous repair mechanisms, facilitating gene knockout, insertion, or sequence alteration. Recent advances in genome editing have significantly expanded its applications in vegetable, fruit, and ornamental crops. Successful modifications targeting genes associated with stress tolerance, fruit ripening, pigment biosynthesis, flowering regulation, and pathogen resistance demonstrate the enormous potential of CRISPR-mediated breeding for horticultural improvement. However, several challenges, including low transformation efficiency, genotype-dependent regeneration, prolonged juvenile phases, polyploidy, and regulatory concerns, continue to limit its broader application in many horticultural species. This review summarizes recent progress in CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome editing in horticultural crops, including strategies for guide RNA design, transformation, regeneration, development of transgene-free plants, and regulatory considerations. Furthermore, emerging advances such as precision editing technologies and improved delivery systems are discussed as promising approaches for enhancing editing efficiency and expanding future applications. Overall, CRISPR/Cas technologies hold substantial potential for accelerating the development of climate-resilient, high-quality, and nutritionally improved horticultural crops.

The Evolution of CRISPR Cas-9 and Its Impact on Plant Breeding for Creating Drought and Disease Resistant Crops

Traditional plant breeding methods have played a significant role in improving crop yield, quality, and disease resistance, but they often require multiple generations of selection, extensive laboratory work, and considerable time to achieve desirable traits. The development of CRISPR Cas-9 genome editing technology has introduced a more precise and efficient approach to plant breeding by enabling targeted genetic modifications without relying solely on conventional breeding techniques. This review examines the evolution of CRISPR Cas-9 technology and its impact on the development of drought tolerant and disease resistant crops. The paper first reviews traditional plant breeding approaches, including natural selection, artificial selection, mutagenesis, protoplast fusion, and polyploidy, before discussing how CRISPR Cas-9 addresses many of the limitations associated with these methods. Published studies involving crops such as rice, tomato, soybean, and tobacco are examined to illustrate the application of CRISPR Cas-9 for improving agronomic traits, enhancing stress tolerance, increasing disease resistance, and improving crop quality. The review also discusses challenges associated with the technology, including regulatory restrictions, ethical concerns, and the technical expertise required for successful implementation. Overall, the evidence suggests that CRISPR Cas-9 has the potential to accelerate plant breeding, improve food security, and support the development of climate resilient crops while reducing the time and uncertainty associated with traditional breeding methods.

CRISPR–Cas technologies for precision genome editing in plants: advances, applications, and future perspectives

This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of a recent advances in CRISPR–Cas technologies and their strategic applications in crop genetics and hybrid breeding, and showcases how these technologies accelerate hybrid breeding by engineering male sterility systems, fixing heterosis, and generating high-throughput mutant libraries for trait discovery.